1¢ - Blue - Type IaThe design is complete at the sides and
bottom but incomplete at the top.
Top center line and tops of the
ornament are missing.
Furthermore, there is a flaw below and to the left
of the "U" of "U.S.POSTAGE".
Less than six mint copies survive
Imperf - Scott #6 - 1857

Deduct 40% for pen cancels for three margins, deduct 40% of three margins,
60% for two margins and for no margins deduct 80%

Use: The one-cent stamp was required to pay the fee for drop letters and circulars under 500 miles. It was also the rate for Newspapers and Circulars.

What you should look for

Identifying #6(#6 is a Type Ia)

#6 is a Type Ia design. The design on the bottom and sides of Type Ia are complete. However the design at the top is not complete, some of the top ornaments have been burnished off, see illustration below.

Type 1a can be found on eighteen plate positions, all from the bottom row of plate IV.

Notes on #6

1) There is no stamp beneath them as they come from the bottom row
2) Type 1a can be found on the perforated stamp as well (Scott #19)
3) Although the stamp can be distinguished by a broken wavy line at the top, a few of the positions have a blurred burr where the line is broken, giving one the first impression that the line is unbroken.
4)
They were only printed in the months of April, May and June 1857, a late period in the printing of the imperforate.
5)
The imperforate stamps were replaced with the perforated stamps on August 1st 1857.
6) A certificate is a must, never buy without one.

Why are there only eighteen positions?

The design of this early issue was too large to allow for the accommodation of the 200 subjects onto one plate. Therefore, each position had to have some amount of the design erased to allow enough room. These erasures accounted for the majority of the types. Eighteen positions, however, had only minimal erasure to the top of the design whilst the rest of the design was left complete

What exactly do the plate position numbers mean?

To take the example of 7RI1

7 = Seventh stamp of the 100 on the pane - this number can be from 1 to 99.

R = Right Plane - this letter can be either R or L, L representing the Left Pane

E= Early State, this letter can be either E or L, L representing the Late State. This letter is only appended to plate I stamps.

How many plates were there?

There were twelve plates of the 1¢ Franklin made, plate six was never used, probably due to it being damaged in it's creation. Most of the plates were used for both the imperforate and perforated design. Some only produced one type or the other. For instance, plate 12 produced only perforated stamps and the early state of Plate 1 produced only imperforate stamps whilst plate I late (reconstruction) produced both imperforate and perforated stamps. Plate 4 was the last of the imperforate plates to be used.